Kootenai Health, Lewis-Clark State College partner for nursing education

Angela Korver is good nurse – she wants to be a better nurse.

Korver returned to school last year with the goal of earning her bachelor’s of nursing degree from Lewis-Clark State College.

“It’s the industry trend that nurses will be required to have their bachelor’s degree,” said Korver, who earned her associate’s degree from North Idaho College in 2003. “I love the education, and the fact I am doing it in my natural setting.”

She is one of 27 registered nurses who enrolled in a new nursing cohort program established by Lewis-Clark State College and Kootenai Heath.

“Nurses want to help people,” Korver said. “Increasing my education is going to allow me to able to make a difference in the lives of my patients.”

Jan Moseley, Director of Nursing Systems, Operations and Innovation at Kootenai, said the hospital’s goal is improve patient outcomes with increased education.

“There are studies that show mortality rates are less, declines in surgical infections and shorter periods of hospitalization with nurses who have their four-year degrees,” Moseley said. “Nurses are in the best positions to coordinate patient care because they’re here with patients all the time. It’s hard for a nurse who has two years of experience to be the center of a team where everyone else has a graduate degree.”

The program is quickly catching on with nurses at Kootenai Health. To date, 30 additional nurses have registered in the LCSC-KH cohort. They will begin classes in the fall. Kootenai employs roughly 540 registered nurses and of those nurses – roughly 40 percent have earned a bachelor’s degree.

“We’ve created a vision and a timetable for 80 percent of nurses to have a bachelor’s degree of nursing by 2020,” Moseley said. “We want our nurses who have their associate degree from North Idaho College to realize that their two-year degree is a start -- not a finish. We want our nurses to continue their education.”

As part of the agreement, LCSC reduced tuition costs by 25 percent for Kootenai employees pursuing a bachelor’s of nursing degree. The discount doesn’t apply to lower general education coursework.

“Lewis-Clark State College responded to the needs of our students and to the expectations of our Coeur d’Alene community,” said Cyndie Hammond, the executive director of LCSC-Coeur d’Alene. “Higher education needs to be able to move quickly and adapt to the marketplace. This partnership is a reflection of that spirit, and we’re thrilled knowing that the program will grow.”

Susan O’Donnell, a LCSC assistant nursing professor, spends a portion of her week at the hospital to provide hands-on instruction.

“Personally, I love being involved with the nurses enrolled in my classes,” O’Donnell said. “They are dynamic and motivated. I try and stress to them that we are all lifelong learners - and I think they appreciate that.”

Moseley said the college was able to adapt its nursing program, which is delivered online, to meet the needs of the hospital.

“We came up with a hybrid of online courses and classes here,” Moseley said. “I think big institutions like hospitals and colleges can be pretty clunky. This is an example of two big institutions not being the status quo. We both said, ‘Hey this is where we need to go and this is what we can do to get there.’”

Taking a Traditional Path

Wynter Erickson learned to dance again.

Erickson, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, credits her adoptive parents with saving her from a dysfunctional family situation and inspiring her to pursue a college education.

“I hadn’t danced in a long time and my adoptive parents are very traditional,” Erickson said. “Mona and Bill taught me how to work hard, do my best and never give up. They taught me to focus on what needs to be done and to work past difficult situations.”

The Lewis-Clark State College senior will earn a degree in Justice Studies later this year. Her remarkable story began on the central Oregon Warm Springs Reservation.

The little ones always ate first. If there was enough food after her eight brothers and sisters were fed, Erickson would eat.
Sometimes she would go without.

“Christmas wasn’t a thought. Birthdays weren’t a big thing. We were poor,” Erickson said. “It was just the way it was.”

Erickson saw violence. She saw the effects of substance abuse. She saw people she cared about taken to jail.

“My friends were afraid to come over to my house,” she said. “My home was dysfunctional. I guess I was immune to these things. Those were tough times.”

Child Protective Services removed her from her home at age 12.

Erickson said life changed for the better after she was adopted by family relatives and moved to Montana.

“I learned a lot of the traditional ways, including some of our language,” she said. “They made me proud to be Native. I am proud of who I am. Dancing felt natural and it made me happy.”

Her adoptive parents also helped her dream about college and a better life. She thrived and decided to join the Army where she met her husband. Together they are raising their three children.

After a three-year stint in the military, the 28-year-old opted to finish her education. She recently wrapped up an internship with the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Court in Plummer. She helped write grants for the tribe. She worked on warrant lists and filled in the gaps for Chief Tribal Justice Bill Douglas.

“Wynter Erickson was a wonderful addition to our office during her time with the Tribal Court system,” Douglas said. “As part of her recent justice studies internship, she attended Tribal Court sessions, rodewith the Tribal Police Department, assisted our clerks in preparing court documents, and really put forth an outstanding effort to provide exceptional service to all those who came before the court. We are proud of the partnership we have established with LCSC and we are grateful to LCSC for sharing such an outstanding student as Wynter with us for a semester. She is truly an exceptional individual.”

Erickson said the experience she gained at the tribe was great. “I would really like to work for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe when I am done,” she said.

Wynter said she hasn’t ruled out a return to Warm Springs one day and she would like to work with juveniles.

“When I was there, they didn’t have much for kids,” she said. “At that time, the adults and children didn’t have much separation. That has changed, but I really care about juveniles and teaching them responsibility.”

While her life experiences have given her perspective on the justice system, she said the classes have prepared her for a career.
“I can’t wait to finish,” Erickson said. “I will be the first one in my family to earn a college degree.”

Marc Stewart is the public information coordinator for Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d’Alene. He can be reached at (208) 292-2684 or mwstewart@lcsc.edu

Members of the media please contact Marc Stewart at (208) 292-2684